TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH
TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH
*Esse post está SOMENTE EM INGLÊS, pois o texto ficou muito grande. O post ANTERIOR tem exatamente o mesmo conteúdo somente em português.*
*This post is only in ENGLISH, because it´s too big. The previous one it´s the same content only in Portuguese*
Hi
Guys,
I´d
like to continue talking about English! Improving my communication skills in English has been my priority since I arrived
here. As I told you in the last post, it´s not automatic. We need to dedicate
ourselves to the task!
Today I would like to give you some
basic tips about how you can improve your English. The tips with an asterisk
‘*’ work for everybody, even if you have never been in the USA, and you´d like
to improve your English skills as well.
You may think that some of the tips
below are a little obvious, but we normally don´t do them naturally. Sometimes
we know what do to, but we need someone to tell us to increase our motivation.
Okay, that´s why we have friends, isn’t it?
In general, to improve your English,
you need as much as possible to have contact with the language. Living in an
English speaking country will make this easier, but only if you go out your bubble¹ sometimes.
Bubble¹ - I explained this
in the last post. “Living in a bubble” has the sense that you are living in
another country, but you surround yourself with people that speak your mother
language.
👇Let´s go to the tips! 👇
1. Make small changes
in your daily life*
Think about small things you are
still doing in your first language that you could do in English. For example,
have you ever tried to change the
language of your electronic gadgets?
Tablet, cellphone or computer? This is a simple change, and it will give
you one more contact point with the language.
Do you use social networking? Nowadays, I use Instagram, Facebook and Linked-in English.
Do you take notes? To-do
list, grocery list, planner, agenda, ideas, classes… whatever! Start taking all
your notes in English!
Do you like reading?
Do your reading in English! You can read magazines, books, websites, blogs,
recipes, etc.
2. Name the things
around you*
This one
is a super easy tip. When you are in a place with a lot of things and have a
little free time, take a look around and try to name the things in English, of
course. You can do this at home, at the store, restaurants, etc. For example,
sometimes I do this in my kitchen just to see if I remember the vocabulary.
Believe it or not, sometimes I can´t remember something and I go to the
dictionary. It´s a simple and easy way to anticipate a lack of vocabulary, and
consequently, learn new words!
3. Watch and listen to
more English*
The internet will help you to put
this tip into practice. I use Netflix a lot to watch series, films and
documentaries. When watching something on Netflix, I always turn on the subtitles
in English. I think I´m ready to try it without the subtitles though. You can
choose what works best for you.
The most content that I watch are
series. What I like about series is that are long (some series have 13 seasons
with 22 episodes of 40 minute-duration each), and each one talks about a
different subject. In this way, you can learn different vocabulary and
expressions. Some of them use more formal language and others use informal language.
You can also listen to different accents because season is from a different
place (even though the majority are from America, each one take place in a
different city or state). So, you can improve your understanding of English
and, as a result, improve your pronunciation.
Listening helps you to recognize the sounds. Recognizing the sounds is
the first step to improving your pronunciation. You can also have a lot of fun
while you watch something that you like. Enjoy!
My friends gave me this tip a long
time ago while I was living in Brazil. I didn´t realize how valuable this tip
was. Understanding English was so difficult for me at that time, so I didn´t
use this tip. Nowadays, I regret this decision because this tip helps a lot!
You just need to have a little patience in the beginning and replay a scene or
a whole episode if needed. The most important thing is to understand the
general idea of the whole scene but not necessarily every sentence spoken.
4. Go out by yourself
My suggestion is to take some time
to go out by yourself. When you are with other people, they will try to solve
the problems for you. This situation will happen more often if they have a
better English than you. My husband has much better English than I do, but most
of the times I try to solve our househood issues by mylself. It helps him
because he has a lot on his plate and it helps me because it´s a good
opportunity to practice my English in daily life! As a result, everybody is
happy!
5. Prepare yourself
before using the phone
Sometimes we need to speak English
on the phone. This is the hardest part for me. What about you? What is the hardest
thing to do in English?
When applying for jobs, the bad news
is that companies normally interview you on the phone first, then, if you are
the finalist (or sometimes one of the three finalists), they may ask you for an
interview in person.
So, how can you speak easily on the phone? Prepare yourself before the
call. Pick-up a pen plus a piece of paper and start thinking about the call. Try
to anticipate the conversation. If you are calling to solve a problem, you can
think about how to introduce yourself and how to explain the problem. Sometimes,
I explain and the person replies: “What do you need from me?” In my explanation
it think it´s implied, but they don´t get it sometimes. So, to avoid this, you
need to be as direct as possible in English and even more direct on the phone.
You can also think about what
questions the person may ask you. For example, your address, any information
from the bill or account you are calling about or you may have your insurance
card ready in case they ask you some more information about that. Be prepared
for spelling, too! I always prepare my “word options” for the spelling. If I say “Me” and they ask me to spell it, I´m
ready to say “M” as in Mary and “E” as in “egg”, for example. In this way, you will succeed and it will prevent
a lot of stress.
6. Attend a class*
There are a lot of classes around
the planet for English both individual and group classes. There are paid and free
classes as well. Yes, a lot of places give free English classes for immigrants.
We will talk about this in any of my next posts. I can list these classes for
you in Raleigh Area and I can tell you how to search for free classes in other
areas. I did a lot of research about English classes when I arrived here.
You can also go online. There are
plenty of classes and teachers available there, some private classes and some
group classes as well.
7. Study by yourself*
If you are good at self-study, welcome
to my world. I take one private, personal class a week (1h). This class is
really productive because I study by myself before the class. I have lots of
books, most of them are for self-study, and they are not expensive. Every week,
I design my study plan, and I go for it. Part of my study plan has a lot of free
materials. I use some websites that have English explanations and exercises for
free, and also some Youtube channels with free classes and explanations as
well. To practice, I also listen to some podcasts. It´s a huge world. I can
share some of these resources with you in a future post.
👍👎 What do you think about this post?
Share your opinion with me.
👌 Do you have more information that can help others?
Share with us!
You can write a comment here or send
me an e-mail brazilianfriendofmine@gmail.com .
Have a wonderful weekend!!
XOXO
Mo
💖
Show! ótimas dicas!
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